Greetings. I’m back and will resume posting. The Pirates’ season went down in flames but there’s still a month of exciting baseball left to watch. For those of you who are interested, here’s a list of ex-Pirates who’s teams are playing in the postseason. I’ll update the stats after each round.

Notes: Finally, some hitting and pitching in the same series and the Pirates sweep the Cubs. The Bucs’ .348 OBP for the series was their highest this month and first time over .300 since the Cardinals series May 1-3 (.319). Gorkys Hernandez got his first major league hit.

Desperate for offense, Pittsburgh cut the worst bat on its bench and called up the player who lead the team in homeruns during spring training. Sorry to see you go, Nate. You were really exciting back in 2008.

Notes: Andrew McCutchen hits two more homeruns and the Pirates win. He gets no hits and they lose. Josh Harrison is hitting the ball well right now. I wouldn’t mind seeing him at shortstop a few games this week. Rod Barajas appears to have shaken off his early season slump. After a .143/.222/.184 April he’s hitting .310/.318/.667 in May. The writing is on the wall for Nate McLouth. He went 0-8 with 4 K’s over the weekend, including the game ender yesterday. All told he’s 0 for his last 20 with 9 K’s and 1 walk. Can we please get Gorkys Hernandez some at bats? It’s literally impossible that he could do worse. One of the biggest problems this team has on offense is strikeouts: 12 on Friday, 12 on Saturday, 17 on Sunday.

Locke was called up for four starts at the end of last season and went 0-3 in 16.2 innings with 5 strikeouts, a 6.48 ERA and 1.86 WHIP. His AAA line for this season is 3-3, 47.2 IP, 36 K, 3.02 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. For now, Jeff is expected to pitch out of the bullpen in long relief.

As expected, the Pirates sent down Evan Meek to call up a bat for this weekend’s series in Detroit. Surprisingly, the hitter they called up was not Matt Hague or Jake Fox, who could provide some pop off the bench or in the DH role, but Gorkys Hernandez. Gorkys was acquired with Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke from the Braves in the Nate McLouth deal and is know for his defense and baserunning ability. Hernandez is hitting .266/.343./355 this season and has a .279/.347/.383 line in 548 at bats over two seasons in Indianapolis.

Notes: With any offensive execution at all on Friday this could have been a sweep. It has become commonplace to say that the pitching is carrying the team, but four earned runs in three games is excellent for any team in any league. Big kudos to James McDonald, Charlie Morton, A.J. Burnett and the entire bullpen. Two names carried the hitting: Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata. Both happen to be signed to long term deals. Neil Walker looks very nice in the two-hole. I think it suits his talents better than cleanup. Much-maligned Rod Barajas and Clint Barmes combined to go 5 for 14 (.294) this weekend. I used to love Nate McLouth, but I just don’t see what he has left as a hitter right now. Pinch hitting him for Casey McGehee in the ninth inning yesterday made no sense to me. Every position player got at least four at bats this weekend. The only players not used were Brad Lincoln, Kevin Correia and Erik Bedard, the next three starting pitchers.